You are So Undead To Me

Megan Berry #1

by Stacey Jay

Q: HOW MANY ZOMBIES DOES IT TAKE TO RUIN A SOCIAL LIFE?

A: NOT MANY.

Megan Berry is a Zombie Settler by birth, which means she's destined to play part-time shrink to a bunch of dead people with killer issues. All Megan really wants is to go to homecoming, but with her powers out of control and everyone from the Mean Girl Next Door to her mom to the Cutest Boy in the World on her case, it's kinda hard to score a date.

(Let's just say Megan's love life could use some major resuscitation.)

She's convinced her sophomore year can't get any worse - until someone starts using black magic to turn average, angsty Undead into scary, hardcore flesh-eating Zombies. Now she'll have to rise to the challenge of kicking Undead butt (while fighting a serious crush on Ethan, who truly may be THE cutest boy in the world).

Her life - and more importantly, the fate of the homecoming dance - depends on it.

Alert: YOU ARE SO UNDEAD TO ME was previously published in 2009 as a full-length title. This heavily revised second edition is told in SERIAL format with CLIFFHANGER endings.

Genres: Young Adult, Zombies, Paranormal, Fantasy, Romance, Horror, Supernatural

90 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 22, 2009

About the author

Stacey Jay is a recovering workaholic (or at least working hard at recovering) with three pen names, two small children, and a passion for playing pretend for a living. She’s been a full time mom-writer since 2005 and can't think of anything she'd rather be doing. Her former careers include theatre performer, professional dancer, poorly paid C-movie actress, bartender, waiter, math tutor (for real) and yoga instructor.

Learn more at http://staceyjay.com.

Reviews

[Kat Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't judge me for giving this three stars.

Yes, the heroine was painfully stupid.

Yes, the romance was corny.

But... ZOMBIES, people! ZOMBIES!

And it was funny and imaginative at times and...

ZOMBIES!!!!!!!

[Sesana]

I got 25% in and just couldn't do it anymore. I really like the idea of zombies who just want somebody to listen, and the summary made it sound sort of Buffy-ish. But the main character is irritating me too much to continue. She's selfish, not very bright, short sighted, and doesn't seem to care about anything but being popular. Maybe she improved as the book goes by, but I just can't take her that long.

[✟Roxanne✟(Death by Book Avalanche) ☠ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 Star Rating

I picked this one up from the library because it sounded good and I love books about zombies.
The idea is fantastic! It's original in the sense that it's about zombies crying out for help and needing assistance with their unfinished business rather than trying to eat your brains...I liked that.
Unfortunately for me the idea just didn't come together. I found the MC to be very annoying and the plot was continuously battered due to her wanting to be popular...it was just one big popularity contest. I found the other characters rather shallow and were immensely over shadowed by the MC. Just by looking at the front cover I should of expected that whole American high school princess drama but I guess I didn't expect it to be that bad.
So much could of been done with such a fantastic idea, it just wasn't for me.

[Paula Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book I've had for a while and being on medical leave; I figured I would try and clear some of the books off my devices. Remember years ago how Zombies were the "in" thing, and several YA books had made them hot like the Generation Dead series by Dan Waters, and I Kissed a Zombie, and I liked it by Adam Selzer. All of a sudden Zombies were back in and acceptable. They even had a new name - the living impaired. Megan Berry comes from a line from her mother's side of Zombie Settlers. It is genetic and goes from one generation to another. As soon as the person receives their powers, the one prior loses there's. Megan has inherited her powers from her mother and was one of the best until she had her accident and she lost her powers. Everyone thought they were gone for good but now just as she was starting to live a normal life, they are back and this time more powerful than ever. Megan is having a hard time controlling them, and random zombies are popping up around her. If she's not careful, then she might expose the whole Zombie Settlers community. Can Megan learn to control her powers before she unleashes a Zombie overload in her town?
Find out in Book #1 You are So Undead to Me - the Megan Berry Chronicles. This series is aimed at YA readers from 13-16 years of age.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ☆

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

All Megan Berry wants is a normal life, but since she’s a Settler by birth, it’s her job to send Undead back to their final resting place, the grave. And even is her powers did lapse for a few years, giving her just a taste of normalcy, they return stronger than ever when fifteen-going-on-sixteen Megan is just about to go on a date with the hottest guy in school. And now that Megan has her Settler powers back, her chances of going to homecoming and making the pom squad are severely diminished, especially because someone at school is using black magic to raise Reanimated Corpses or Zombies. And as the RC attacks become more frequent and dangerous, Megan starts to realize that the plot is more sinister than she could ever imagine, even if her fellow Settlers don’t believe her. And so, it’s all up to Megan alone, it seems, to save the day, and homecoming, before it’s too late.

You Are So Undead to Me is a story with a unique idea but unfortunately subpar execution. My main problem were the characters; they were much too stereotypical. Ethan is the characteristic crush who eventually falls for the heroine, Monica is your typical evil popular girl in the way of said heroine’s plans for rising on the social ladder and getting the guy, and Megan is the girl who fights against what she is. Also, it’s been a while since I’ve had to call a character annoying, but that is what Megan is; her snarky and shallow thoughts soon get old and her boy distractions are too common and only distract from the main storyline. The plot was mostly predictable except for one commendable twist. I felt there some gaps in the story’s background that bothered me; for example, Settlers are born with power, but how do black magic practitioners, who aren’t born with that power, then gain some to perform their evil spells? In all, You Are So Undead to Me is amusing for a light read but not so great once you look beneath the surface.

You Are So Undead to Me may be popular among fans of the supernatural. Readers who enjoyed Revealers by Amanda Marrone will also like this novel.

reposted from http://thebookmuncher.blogspot.com

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Allison Fraclose for TeensReadToo.com

Fifteen-year-old Megan Berry thought that she'd been rid of the Settler gig forever. Ever since the zombies attacked her at the age of ten, she hasn't been expected to continue interviewing the regular, nonthreatening undead to help them settle their worldly affairs so they could quietly go back to the grave.

But now, dead guys are showing up on her doorstep again, and even though Megan's Settler powers have returned full-force, picking up the job she inherited from her mother is the last thing Megan wants to worry about. Homecoming looms, and Megan not only has to work on snagging a date with the most popular football player in school, but she also has to avoid confrontation with fellow Settler Monica so that she and her best friend, Jess, can make Pom Squad tryouts.

How is Megan supposed to work her way into Carol High's upper crust if dead people keep interrupting at the most inopportune times?

Homecoming grows even more unlikely for Megan when she learns that someone is using black magic to reanimate corpses into the flesh-eating variety. What's worse is that they seem to be targeting her, and Megan is having a rough enough time just trying to appear normal while easing back into the Settler business.

This unexpected attraction Megan has for the Settler Affairs officer who's been assigned to her case isn't helping much, either, especially when he starts creeping into every aspect of her life. Megan is going to have to work her hardest to figure out what's going on and keep her life in order, before being a Settler manages to destroy it.

This hilarious story has something for every girl who likes monsters, magic, mystery, and a little kick-ass action. I also found it to be an interesting take on zombies, and I look forward to seeing more of Megan in the promised second book.

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stacey Jay made my first exposure to the wonderful world of zombie literature a fun one! I always think of Michael Jackson’s Thriller video when I think of zombies. Not that has any significance for this review, but I just felt like throwing that out there, because that’s how I kept imagining the zombies when I was reading this novel. I thought the whole Settler society was a very interesting and unique! And Jay does a remarkable job depicting it.

I was expecting a darker theme, but it ended up being lighthearted and funny. There’s a steady dose of suspense, action, humor and romance which always makes for a good read. Megan is a typical teenage girl, I mean except for the whole helping the undead thing. But that is what makes You are so Undead to Me such a charming read!

I had no idea who the culprits were! Now that I know, I don’t know why I didn’t figure it out earlier, but I was just at oblivious as Megan! I love when a novel baffles me like that. Stacey Jay has written an impressive debut novel and I’m looking forward to reading more by her!

[~Tina~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never really been too big on the whole Zombie-eating-world paranorm, but as far as Zombies books go, this one was really cute, fun and entertaining.

Megan Berry thought dealing with the unsettled was done and over with since she lost her powers 5 years ago, but the very much undead boy on her front porch looking for some closure is very much real and clearly Megan's powers are back from retirement and totally ruining her social life...

You Are So Undead to Me was a really quick, fun and light read.
Stacey Jay writes one hell of a laugh out loud, action-packed book filled with a lot of twists, wit and paranormal fun, I found it refreshing to laugh at the gore instead of cringing. This was a really amusing take on this element and you'll even find some sweet romantic moments as well.
All in all I enjoyed this book, a lot, and look forward to reading the sequel.

[Monica Hills · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this YA Zombie book. There were some really cute moments and it could definitely turn out to be a great series but I know there is only one more book. Meg was a great main character and even though I did figure out what was going on half way through I did enjoy it. My only complaint is that she should have been older. The love story going on didn't quite fit because the male was too old. Especially being a mom of teenagers, there is no way I would let one of my teenagers go out with a college student. I also enjoyed that one of the characters was named Monica. I don't get to read that very often.

[AuroraIce]

Bookshelf reread … I think.

I now wonder if I ever read this at all, or just assumed I did. I had a book about vampire slaying that I think I mixed up with this, but I must have gotten rid of that one. A few things sounded potentially familiar about this book, but they could have just been general familiar things of the supernatural undead genre.

The story follow Megan Berry, a Settler, which means zombies with unfinished business crawl out of their grave and visit her to declare what makes them restless, and she delivers their messages (not sure if that part is necessary or her personal choice), then she has to follow them back to their grave and seal it so they can’t be used for nefarious purposes. Settlers only gets zombies in their own age range, whatever age that may be, and if they don’t finish the ritual on time the zombies get rowdy and start destroying stuff. The power passes from parent to child and fades from the parent as their kid develops their abilities, and I have a lot of questions about Settler stuff.

Megan had an accident involving reanimated corpses when she was younger and her power, greater than most her age, hasn’t been active since then. Reanimated corpses are made deliberately by witches practicing dark magic, using their blood to revive the dead and send them to attack someone specific, which will also result in random attacks on innocents along the way. More on that later. Megan has partial amnesia from the incident. She’s been happy to be free of it and is only thinking shallow, high school life thoughts now, like getting the popular boyfriend and prom date and joining the pom squad.

Just before her popular boy date arrives, a zombie shows up, revealing Megan’s powers have be reawakened. She hasn’t practiced or trained or learned the skills of her current level in years, believing she was permanently free of this life, so she struggles through the procedure and sending her date away. When the zombie leaves, he drops an arm and she has to take her bike to deliver it to his grave, where she can’t remember any of the spells at all, including the one to deposit his arm with him. She’s also supposed to put a safety halo on a corpse’s head once they finished their talk and then seal the grave, which she never had to do at the first stage when she was attacked, and now she’s at the second stage and knows nothing.

This fact angers Ethan, the Settler Protocol Enforcer (basically the police of their kind) who saw the running zombie and handled the situation for her, and now deposits the arm. He seems very grumpy and Megan is scared but also irritated by his attitude, until he delivers hints that makes her remember him being her close friend from when she was young. Her amnesia blocked him until now, but he’s still frustrating toward her for her lack of knowledge and the push gets put on her excited mom to run her through intense training now.

Settlers aren’t common, but there’s enough of them to have whole communities. They used to get paid when people knew about them, and then invested well so Settlers Affairs is rich enough to pay Settlers for their work and be desperate to keep every one of them, which makes me a little confused about why they would be so controlling toward an “employee” when they wouldn’t want them to quit, and why when some of them get in trouble, despite the claim that they’ve never turned bad and none have taken up dark magic, do they disappear them? They also disappear black magic users when they can’t get them tried in regular court. They are super secretive and relocate Settlers if they get exposed, like Megan’s family did when she was younger, and it took me a while to understand that that was before she met Ethan and Monica, and they didn’t get relocated to the same town at her. They always keep them within an area where a Settlers Affairs Office is.

Ethan and Monica were the other Settler kids around her age. Monica’s a year older, and Ethan is in college while Megan’s sixteen I think. Monica is awfully suspicious because she’s mentioned by a few of the zombies Megan’s settles and is too happy when Megan gets sabotaged by the attempts to make the zombies visit Monica instead of Megan as she readapts.

She attempts another date with the popular guy, and after being irritated by Ethan’s attitude in their first meeting and not liking that age difference, I thought it would be nice if things worked out with the clueless popular guy at her school, if he wasn’t a stereotype and instead they became the love story, even if her double life remained a secret to him and he understands weird things keep happening and he’s in danger and injured a lot, but he endures it because he likes her so much and maybe later figures out what’s going on but knows secrecy is what keeps her around and she’ll vanish if exposed, so he pretends to remain clueless … I created this whole love story in my head because I liked that idea. This was before we met Josh Pickle, her popular kinda crush. He wasn’t very good, and he apparently lied about her at school, but at least when things ended between them he remained friendly toward her, not that we ever saw it, she just said so.

She has to sneak off during their date when she hears RCs (reanimated corpses; I will now be referring to them as RC whether singular or plural because my computer will now allow me to add a lowercase s, it just lowers the c as well). She fights them and struggles to remember the spells, which are clear in her dreams but not when she needs them, and Ethan shows up just in time once she thinks they’re handled but they return. Then he drags her away while Monica proudly waits to take over her date.

Ethan is assigned as her monitor and to train her because they don’t think her mom is doing good enough. He’s also secretive about the big missions Affairs is handling at her school, which she’s already caught onto but doesn’t know what’s going on. Ethan remains frustrating and controlling, but it’s only because he’s so messed up from her getting attacked when they were younger and how he blames himself, which isn’t an excuse for him seeming constantly grumpy around her. She is justifiably frustrated with his behavior, but quickly forgives him whenever he moves or breathes or exists because his shirt is so tight and he has muscles and isn’t his face nice? I hate that.

Ethan seems interested in her too, but then his attitude changes make her worry she’s imagining it, and at first I thought that was stupid, but his actions really were a whole collection of signals pointing in every direction, so her confusion and insecurity was reasonable.

More attacks happen and Megan realizes the RC are targeting her prom dates and think that’s the motive, which Ethan thinks is weird until she explains and he presents it to the higher ups who don’t believe it. Her prom dress is worn by a burning RC to ruin it, and one zombie gets cloned and her clones attack, then Monica is also attacked because she thinks Megan is faking her own attacks, and Megan finds her suspicious, and so does Ethan secretly, so he goes from kissing a frightened Megan to affectionately comforting Monica and taking her away and becoming her monitor, and Megan is like, “What he heck? He must just kiss crying girls then. That’s weird.”

By this point Ethan has insisted they pose as a couple to explain why he’s always around her, acting this out when he picks her up from dance practice before explaining the plan to her, getting her nasty looks from the other girls and Monica, as they already know him and hang out a lot. He wants them to have been a thing for a while, but she points out that would make her look bad since she went out with Josh, so they make it new, which still makes her look bad for starting this right after a date with Josh, and so all the girls at school are judging her. He has no awareness or concern for this.

Megan is now being guarded by a different Settler flown in from the Settler equivalent of FBI, but I don’t remember the name. Megan’s friend tells her some stuff about Ethan and Monica after Monica claims to be dating Ethan again, just like she used to, so Megan goes to talk to him since she thinks he’s Monica’s prom date now without telling her, then she get attacked by a ton of RC, badly injured and nearly drowns. Her monitor rescues her and she wakes up in Settlers Affairs, in trouble for accidentally sneaking out. Because she saw Ethan and Monica kiss before her attack, she’s fed up with him since he hasn’t spoken or explained anything to her at all, and she refuses his visit. Then her family is sent to the Settlers bunker for a few weeks to FBI train her since he battle that nearly killed her was so impressive, as well as her fight against the clones. Her mom fought to get her permission for school, but she has to miss the pom squad tryouts she’s been looking forward to her entire life.

Her friend calls to ask about her location since Monica is apparently raiding her house, so she confesses everything since she feels bad for lying and risks this secrecy. Her friend, Jess, decides to confront Monica, so Megan rushes out to join her in secret because it’s dangerous. It turns out Jess is the witch, along with Josh’s ex-girlfriend Beth, who was on Megan’s suspect list for the Josh thing, but actually the girls are dating and Jess is mad since her mom was the witch who RC’d the zombies that attacked Megan when she was younger, wanting to sic them on her husband’s new wife, and them sending the RC back to their maker got her eaten, Jess wants to avenger her, and Beth is mad that the football team jokingly elected two nerds to run for prom queen and therefore she was left out of the running.

Their plan is to have the zombies eat Megan and Monica, the only Settlers they know about, then go to the gym where prom is to eat everyone else. Both Monica and Megan are hostages now, and they fight to get free and use magic during the battle and then have to fight the zombies, and Ethan shows up thinking Monica is the perpetrator from his own investigation into Megan’s suspicions and her texts before disappearing.

Then they go to the evacuated gym (Monica ran off, they thought out of fear, but it was to clear the gym), and they battle the RC. Megan fizzles out when the Affairs arrive, having been dealing with a different dark magic issue a town over to make them late, because she’s had a fire spell going this whole time and that drains you fast, but she lasted long.

Everyone has prom in the parking lot instead, which turns into a water balloon fight. Ethan confesses to Megan, and to his credit he seems nervous, but then his words confuse her again. Basically he’s been trying to protect her, and some of his secrecy was demanded by Affairs since her mom refused to talk about it too. But he was suspicious of Monica for getting attacked by a zombie since she did get a mark for using black magic to revive her gerbil when she was younger, so he immediately pretended to be interested in her to get close and investigate for Megan’s sake, but without telling Megan, so she just thought he kissed her then ran off with Monica and began dating Monica without ending his fake relationship with Megan, and was taking Monica to prom without telling Megan so she could find a new date or drop her expectations of attending. And when she went to ask him at a bonfire, she saw him kissing Monica as part of his act. Because he didn’t tell her anything. He admits now he should have, and his act did allow him to find the evidence that Monica orchestrated the attack on herself.

Before that Monica begged the newly awoken Megan not to expose her actions because a second mark on her record will prevent her from joining Settler FBI, which Megan is already being recruited for and was successful in the battle because the other agents had trained her. Monica also lied about ever dating Ethan because she had a crush on him. There is no explanation for why she’s a generally mean person. Megan negotiates to stay quiet if Megan lets her tryout again for pom squad, since without Jess and Beth they’re down two members and need to tryout again anyway.

My issues: Settlers Affairs has an office in town, which Megan does go to on occasion, like when a zombie scratches her or when she has to meet with the elders after using a third stage spell she shouldn’t know yet. But the reader does not go there with her. It would have made the book longer, apparently wouldn’t have added anything useful, but it did feel like I was missing out on the world building. This was the headquarters of this whole community of zombie Settlers and we focus more on high school than knowing about the other Settlers in this town. After her meeting with the elders where she thinks she’s in trouble, it only gets mentioned in a paragraph a few pages into the next chapter. Eventually we do go to their infirmary after her nearly fatal attack and meet an elder or two, and that’s it. The compound barely gets description at all either, and apparently she’s there for a week or two that just gets skimmed through.

Ethan was a jerk. His blame and fear for her safety was used as an excuse for him to act awful. She kept asking him to teach her spells she could use for battle or defense since she keeps getting attacked, and he’s like, “No, that’s a bad stupid outrageous ridiculous idea. Why would you want to do something dumb like that? No, just learn these two that everyone knows and maybe one more that you won’t be able to memorize or use if you get attacked by a group of RC it only works on one at a time. I certainly won’t teach you anything usual because self-defense is dumb. You’re lucky I’m not stopping you from learning basic human self-defense from your dad.” He doesn’t imply that last part at all, but I don’t even care by this point.

He constantly calls her by a nickname he gave her when they were younger, which she later learned was actually a bad word; she explained and I chose not to look it up for verification because I didn’t want to know. But she does know, so she repeatedly tells him to stop calling her that in varying degrees of emotion, and he keeps calling her that, whether happy or angry or sad. When he’s feeling extra guilty, he still gets her attention with that name that clearly bothers her. He doesn’t listen. He gets irritated with her and refuses her requests and ideas and is rude to her and confuses her and he doesn’t have to face any consequences because she’s so overcome with her giant crush on him that she forgets her valid anger before she can speak it, instead getting lost in his smell or his eyes. At least she does eventually decide he can’t keep her from stuff just because he’s scared for her.

Settler spells are based on Latin. RC require blood from the witch who awakens them, and a totem or item to direct them at their target, but the smell of blood makes them wild and they get distracted and go after that. Once they kill their target, they keep rampaging. The spell to stop them sends them back to their maker, who they bite because only their maker’s blood can shut them down. It explained it in the book once, and I couldn’t remember where and therefore couldn’t remember if the Settler has to touch the zombie to cast that spell, or why they couldn’t do it to multiple attacking RC. Reverto. Reverto Terra is how they send things into the grave, which should not be used on RC. There’s one that’s essentially, “Peach Brother Corpse”, which is longer than that and must be said while puncturing a zombie’s skin. The FBI teaches Megan how to use that to take out multiple zombies. There are temporary freezing spells. Third stage has the fire spell Megan learns but can rarely turn off, which takes a ton of energy but she wields it powerfully.

I don’t get how Settlers pass things on. Were there once a ton but too many died? Does it only pass on to the first kid and not the second if you have multiple kids? Or do all kids get it? Does the Settler’s magic split between their children? It didn’t seem like the parent’s level mattered, since Megan’s mom wasn’t super powerful but Megan was. What about two Settlers having a kid? Do they both lose their power to one kid? That seems like a waste. Losing their power at all is a waste. Elders are proud of themselves for getting old while retaining their magic because they don’t have offspring, but that just makes them a bunch of people who will lower the amount of Settlers even more because their power will die with them. I have a lot of questions on how this works.

I was guessing Jess was the culprit from early on. I figured it had to be an existing character, and by the point Megan was starting her investigation, we hadn’t met a lot of people, so I figured Jess was most likely. I also allowed for their dance teacher, and Jess’s hated step-mom. I didn’t think Beth was likely, even after Affairs first caught her at a graveyard after Megan’s second big attack, and she was covered in bite-marks. Her motive was stupid and I didn’t see hints that they were a couple, but since I suspected Jess, I noticed that a lot of what she said steered Megan in directions and wasn’t necessarily true or corroborated, though there were some of her friend things that did feel genuine so it was sad that she was faking it all. She was also the first to know all the things the villain had to know to target who they did.

She said her mom got eaten by the zombies because she didn’t know the spell to make them stop, which is weird because the RC are only supposed to take one bite from their maker and be done because they only need the blood, and Jess and Beth didn’t have any problem with that. They used their own blood donation blood to feed the returning RC to avoid bites, and that was all it took, yet she never put it together that it should’ve worked the same for her mom. Nor does she think it’s bad that her mom used her blood to raise them, or was trying to kill her step-mom, or that Megan was just a little kid too who was getting attacked by Jess’s mom’s monsters and that’s why she fought back without knowing anything about her attacker.

It was a fun, fast story. I have a lot of questions, I don’t care for their love story, and I’ll have to check after this if the book is a series. It did feel very Buffy inspired, which I think is a whole genre itself.

Quotes in comments.

[Diane Ehlers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally posted on Paranormal Sisters: http://paranormalsisters.blogspot.com...

This was originally published as a full-length novel which I have sitting on my bookshelf. I've been craving a reread but when I noticed since then Mrs. Jay got her rights back, heavily edited it (trust me I checked) and republished it in a serial series. Though it's minor changes- just knowing there is a second edition to the full-length novel I just had to get it. I mean, what if she changed something? haha. It would just feel a little weird knowing there's an edited one out there (not that I felt like the original needed it but over time our writing style changes so I understand why she did it).

Anyways, the first in the serial is free and I devoured it! It brought back that amazing feeling I had while reading it the first time and I still love it after all these years! What I loved most about this book was the concept of Zombie Settlers, it's what hooked me then and still does today! It's a unique concept, not done before (at least that I know off) and it's such a refreshing tale in the zombie genre!

Though don't pick this up if you don't like cutesy teen books. I love that aspect and I love how balanced it is with Megan trying to live a normal life but is constantly getting sucked into her destiny as a Zombie Settler. It definitely keeps readers on their toes!

Overall I enjoyed this as much as I did back then, maybe a little more with the new references like The Walking Dead! I loved the action, kept me turning the pages and the humor had me laughing. I knew this story was going to suck me back in and the next day I bought the rest of the series, dying to devour this book again! This is still one of my all time favorite teen zombie books and I cannot wait to reread the rest of this serial!

[Ashley - The Bookish Brunette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is SUCH a fun and cute read!

Megan Berry is a Zombie 'settler'. Basically she helps the undead settle into the afterlife.

"Welcome to your after-death session. My name is Megan. May I have your name, last name first?" -Megan doing her opening spiel.

Megan has been out of the zombie settling game for 5 years, when suddenly- right before her date with Mr. HOT senior Josh- a zombie shows up at her door ringing the doorbell.

Here's the deal. Once the zombie tells the settler whatever it is that has them bothered enough to CRAWL back from the dead, then they are good to go and head back to the grave.

WICKED interesting twist on the whole 'zombie' thing right?

But zombies CAN be brought back by dark witchcraft and these particular RC's (reanimated corpses) are very very bad and very very dangerous. Someone is raising RC's... and now Megan's childhood best friend Ethan (who is insanely hot now) is back and has decided to be her "pretend" boyfriend in order to protect her from these rogue RC's.

Dude, I know right? I WILL NOT tell you who is behind raising the RC's, but you won't freaking believe it! And the end was full of so many wicked awesome twists that I cannot WAIT to start Undead Much!

[Annabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even the cover of this book reminds me of the movie poster for Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
I LOVE Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
So, logically, I loved this book. Meguffy (as I will refer to her from now on) is hilarious and witty and brave. Despite things usually not going her way and her tendency to get into big time trouble, she never gives up. Plus, she doesn't let people push her around, which is probably my favorite personality trait. She's a great heroine in her own clumsy yet not-so-clumsy way.
The story was funny and action-packed. It had me laughing while flipping pages like a mad woman. The mystery was very clever and left me shocked when the guilty party was revealed. The entire book was full of fun and bitchy and unbelievably cute characters.
My favorite part was that even though everything was wrapped up pretty nicely, I know there is more in store for our dear Meguffy. And I personally cannot wait.

[Brittney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ehhh...after an ending like that, I can't give this book one star. I am too much of a hopeless romantic. I'm telling you it gets me every time.

Overall this book was too young for me. I love YA and I can read books set for even younger audiences, but this one was too much. It was fairly predictable and the MC was (what did my status update say) "immature and painfully annoying." I think that pretty much sums it up. I had a hard time looking past that aspect of the book to really think about anything else. I don't mind a younger MC. I just can't stand a dimwitted and self absorbed young MC.

The only things that kept me going were the zombies of course, the continuous action, and only God knows why..the love story. Shoot me, I know, but it was cute.

[Stormy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay I upgraded my rating to 2 stars because I was actually able to finish it, but this heroine, Megan Berry...VERY ANNOYING. Worse than Bella Swan and I didn't think that was possible. The whole book was painful at best. The internal chatter (and distractability) HORRIBLE. This is another author who solves a mystery with in an unsolvable way. I HATE that. And the epiphany is ridiculous.

She may be prolific, but I doubt I'll read her again.

[Jenne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute quick read. The MC Megan is very young and it shows at the start of the book. It does manage to come together though. Definitely wasn't an issue for me by the end. The narrator was good and manages to convey that teenage sass through the book. All in all a good book!

[Marianne · Rating 1 out of 5]

With Zombie Settlers this young and incompetent I have a hard time believing the majority of them manage to grown up and reproduce, thereby continuing the cycle.

Nope, too unbelieveable even for the average authority hating tween, imo.

[Carolina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yay! Yay! Yay! Zombies!

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The high school angst and drama was dull, but I found the zombie fighting parts moderately interesting. I'm not a hurry to finish the series, but I'd consider reading the rest of it eventually.

[Jason Dark · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.7

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never been a huge zombie fan. The whole undead-moaning-slobbering things has never been my cup of tea. Like many reads over the past year, I'm reaching outside my comfort zone and giving zombies more of a try. I thought this book would be a little darker and a little more serious, but it turned out to be an actual fun, witty, and light hearted one that I enjoyed.

Megan has a great young teenage voice. She just wants to live a normal life, but it's kind of hard when the undead keep showing up on your doorstep. The beginning of the book had me laughing and completely loving everything about it. You can tell Stacey Jay took some time in creating this whole world of Settlers. The system of their world was explained very well and you learned more as Megan went through more of the training process. I also enjoyed the author's writing style. Everything played out nicely where I could picture it all in my head. I could really see this being a TV show.

The relationship between Megan and Ethan fit perfectly. (And yes, I did develop a character crush on Ethan. I can't help these things. Boys in books always seem to be better.) These two bounced off one another nicely, and I'm hoping that maybe in the next book we get to read more on their past together.

By the time I got to the middle, I wouldn't quite say I became bored, but I wasn't as into it as I had been. It just kind of slowed down for me. I also figured out who the villain was around this time. That's my main reason for rating this 3.5 instead of a 4 because I really wanted to be surprised, but wasn't. The whole time I kept thinking why isn't Megan seeing who the villain is! Now the reasons behind why the villain did what they did was good, but like I said, I really wanted to be more surprised. Overall it was still a good read and I'm looking forward to the next book.

[Johanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

You Are So Undead To Me
(Megan Berry Book #1)
by Stacey Jay

Genre: Urban Fantasy / Young Adult

Megan Berry's social life is so dead. Literally. Fifteen-year-old Megan is a Zombie Settler by birth, which means she's part-time shrink to a bunch of dead people with a whole lot of issues. And things are about to get even worse. Someone at school is using black magic to turn average, angsty Undead into flesh-eating Zombies and it's up to Megan to stop the zombie apocalypse...
Studying her Settler textbook is important, except Megan just wants to be a normal sophomore in High School. Her biggest worry right now is getting a date to the Homecoming dance, not the zombie on her doorstep. So, when an old friend shows up to teach Megan some new tricks and zombies begin attacking her all over town, she becomes a bit preoccupied and doesn't realize danger is closer than she thinks.

I've been on a big zombie fix lately since reading Dan Waters Generation Dead series, but I feel this book was written for a much younger crowd - thus I didn't find it really interesting. I found the plot lacking, the characters flat, and the all over story predictable. Megan was immature and she didn't really develop much throughout the story. I didn't find myself enjoying any of the side characters as well and the end was just plain CHEESY!!!! Stacey Jay's writing style was pretty boring to me as well, didn't flow well and I found myself skipping paragraphs to read ahead. If you're looking for a quick bit of fluff to read, this might satisfy your needs - but I think you'd be much happier looking elsewhere.

Likes: The idea of "Settlers" was growing on me, but the story didn't carry it through enough for my interest.

Dislikes: Too many similarities to Buffy; just switch the vamps for zombies and it's pretty much the same story line.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Megan Berry is a 16 year old Zombie Settler- this means dead people with issues come back from the grave and find her to vent their frustrations. She had a reprieve after some major issues a few years ago, but it appears that her powers are coming back full force. In fact, Megan may be the strongest Settler around. Naturally, this has some major impacts on her personal life; it's hard to keep a boyfriend or go to the homecoming dance when there are dead people looking for you on a regular basis. To make matters worse, someone has been working some serious black magic and resurrecting all sorts of problematic, flesh-eating zombies to go after her. Megan even thinks that it could be the work of the totally witchy Monica, fellow Settler and popular girl extraordinaire who definitely doesn't want Megan to succeed in the upcoming pom squad tryouts! Can Megan find out who's behind the black magic, manage to woo the totally hot Ethan who has been assigned to help her with her powers, and make the pom squad? Who knows!

Okay, so you might pick up a hint of sarcasm there... it's not my kind of story. But still, this isn't a bad book at all. I can definitely see it having some serious appeal to some of our more reluctant teenage females. It's not too short or too long and it does have a little mystery component to it. Just avoid it for your more serious readers because they will most likely be turned off!

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Megan is a powerful zombie settler who recently comes into her powers once more after suppressing them following a traumatizing encounter with reanimated corpses (RCs) as a child. The reemergence of her powers wreaks havoc on her blossoming social life, in which she's dating the school's cutest boy and pursuing a spot on the pom squad. Afterall, what teenage girl wants to be dealing with zombies instead of going on dates and dancing?

On top of the return of her powers, Megan must find out how to control her abilities, deal with a potential murderer set on either killing her or preventing her from attending Homecoming (she's pretty sure the motive is a bit of both!), deal with mean girls (it is high school after all), and explore her relationship with her childhood friend and now dreamboat Ethan.

Although the main character was shallow and whiny at times and the secondary characters were two-dimensional, I thought the story was cute, fast-paced, and enjoyable. Just a word of warning: don't expect a scary zombie story if you plan on reading this book.

[Alana ~ The Book Pimp · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW... I was frustrated for a little while there at the juvenile aspects but when it was all said and done, color me content. Yes, it is a high school story (after all the MC is a 15-almost-16 girl) but it's done really well. True to the chracaters ages, but not reminding me of my own teenager so much I want to throttle the book.

I would totally feel comfortable giving this to a pre-teen to read. There are references to alcohol and sex, but it's really nearly as clean as an after-school special... well, minus the zombies and blood and murder attempts. Blood and zombie bites don't give that sqeaky clean feeling, do they? But seriously, it's like taking the TV shows Saved by the Bell or Fifteen and combining it with a younger slightly less violent walking dead and adding maybe a spoonful of zany Scooby Doo antics. I could really see this doing well translated into the big screen or TV... but I digress.

Overall, I would definitely try another book by Stacey Jay. I'd want to make sure I'm in the right mood for YA but other than that... Go, Settlers. Go! Rah-Rah-Rah!

[Catastrophe Queen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life is never normal when you're job is to help the Undead resolve their unfinished business. Add in Homecoming, boys, fellow rivals, and an evil necromancer and what do you have? Megan Berry's teenage life.

My thoughts:
So I've never really been a zombie fan, but this book was unique and funny enough that I actually enjoyed parts of it. Zombies showing up on your doorstep sound like a pretty funny (and scary) experience. The plot was good. I mean, who could resist magic, mystery, and romance?

But I didn't like Megan much. Probably because she was a shallow teenager who reminded me of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The romance seemed rushed but Ethan was pretty charming so I didn't mind. The ending was predictable but it still held some element of surprise.

Although it wasn't as amazing as I had hoped it would be, it was still a pretty good book. I definitely recommend this book to people who want a light, humorous read --- or anyone who's a zombie fan.

[Penny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this audiobook forever ago. Not sure why I never got around to listing it here. 3.5 stars. This book is a fun YA UF. If you liked Paranormalcy you'll probably enjoy You Are So Undead To Me.

About the narrator, Jessica Almasy's performance: I think they got the right narrator for this book. She's got the right voice for a teenage girl which, for whatever reason, is pretty rare when it comes to audiobooks. Pitch-perfect performance.

P.S. If you've got an audible membership you can purchase You Are So Undead to Me for $6.35 <-----this is the real reason I gave this book a chance. You can't beat that price.

[Alley Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Stacey Jay's novel, You Are So Undead to Me, main character, Megan, finds her Settler powers returning after the night five years ago, where they disappeared. This means taking on responsibility once again, possibly ruining her sophomore experience.

So I guess we're back to whiny, pathetic, and stupid female main characters? Megan was horrible. She really was. She was stupid and whiny and really couldn't do anything right. This book was boring, up until the big event at the end when you finally learn the identity of the black magic practitioner(s). The end was completely unexpected, which makes me wonder if the second book will be any better. I don't think I'm in any hurry to find out.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes you need to read a light and fluffy book. This book is so cute that you want to cuddle with it all night long. I literally read it in one sitting, which is something that I don't do very often.

I laughed, I got butterflies in my tummy from Megan and Ethan's relationship, and I speculated about who was the bad guy... girl??? I do have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised that the mystery of this story had me guessing and I didn't predict all of it.

I am very excited for the sequel coming out in a few months and I can't wait to see what else Stacey Jay has up her sleeve because her writing is fantastic.